


Post mortem viventem

by Kayoi1234



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Ghosts, Crack Treated Seriously, Gen, Ghosts, Is this crack?, Or I've pulled them out of my own ass to move the story along, Rupert and Daniel are now best bros I don’t make the rules, Suicide, Suicide mention, The original characters are either unimportant side character made important, connor sees dead people, how does the police work, it's probaly crack, uhh, why did I write this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-26
Updated: 2018-10-18
Packaged: 2019-06-16 15:24:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15440034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kayoi1234/pseuds/Kayoi1234
Summary: So, if androids don't have souls, why does Connor see the ghosts of shut down Deviants?Why does he see ghosts in general?(In which Connor sees more than he is meant to, and it changes less than you think.)





	1. ONE: The Death of Two

**Author's Note:**

> [ Here ](https://ficbook.net/readfic/8017915) is a Russian Translation for those who are curious.
> 
> I don't own Detroit: Become Human.  
> The Title is Latin for "Living after death", except it's google translate so who knows what I screwed up. 
> 
> I'm also like 50% sure this is crack, but at this point, I'm tired and just eh.  
> In fact, all translations are google translate.

Daniel is the first ghost to stay with Connor.

His body falls to the floor, but something is still standing there. It’s Daniel, but he’s translucent and there’s a strange blue outline around him. He keeps saying “ _You lied to me Connor. I trusted you, and you lied!”_.

Connor blinks, trying to understand.

Connor sees ghosts, something he’s accepted when he walked into the apartment. He saw the spirit of John Phillips, kneeling in his own blood, whispering “Shouldn’t have done anything, should have listened to Emma…”, oblivious to Connor staring at his transparent figure.

He’s seen the ghost of the DPD officer that was first on the scene, who does notice Connor and tells him what he does and doesn’t know.

The second police officer that died that night, his spirit dripping wet yet the floor remaining dry tells him that he shouldn’t take the gun.

Both officers know they’re dead.

Daniel doesn’t, until he tries to punch Connor in the face and fails to do so, his arm going through. That’s when he says “I’m dead, aren’t I?”

Connor nods.

Daniel sticks around after that. It’s kind of strange, seeing an Android having a ghost, which meant that deviants had souls, and it leaves a strange sort of feeling in Connor’s chest.

-LINE BREAK-

“The sign clearly says ‘No Androids’.” Daniel mutters, one foot through the wall of the bar. “What if they break you?”

Connor looks at him and says “I have a mission to complete. And this is the 5th bar we’ve checked.”

“ _I have a mission to complete_ ” Daniel mocks as he follows Connor into the bar. “God, you’re horrib- _is that a kid?”_

Connor looks at where Daniel is pointing, to show a six-year-old kid standing next to an old man.

“My name is Cole Anderson! What’s yours?” He says to Daniel, who’s still trying to process the shock.

“Uhm, my name is Daniel, the android over there is Connor…kid, what are you doing here?” Daniel replies, pointing at Connor, who is now trying to convince the old man to come with him.

“My dad’s here to drink the weird stuff. Are you guys gonna take him home?” Cole asks, looking up at, what Daniel is now assuming, is Hank Anderson.

“Uh, no, actually he has to go do his job…yeah…” Daniel says, looking back at Connor with a _“Help me.”_ Expression on his face.

Connor looks back with a _“You’re programmed to take care of children idiot, how am I meant to help?”_ Hank tells him to stick his instructions somewhere, prompting Connor to say “No, where?”

Daniel snorts at that.

They finally convince Hank Anderson to leave the bar, through _bribery_ of all things, and they head to the crime scene.

-LINE BREAK-

Upon arrival, Hank turns in the car seat and tells Connor to stay in the car.

“You’re not going to listen, are you?” Daniel says, deadpan as he and Cole phase through the car door.

“Yep.” Connor replies, stepping into the rain.

“You can _see_ us?” Cole whispers, stars in his eyes. “That’s so _cool_.”

Connor blinks and says “Um, sure.” And Daniel bursts out laughing because Connor might be the latest in CyberLife tech but he doesn’t know how to deal with children which is _hilarious._

They follow Hank, who groans and tells Connor not to touch anything, and they enter the house.

Daniel is very thankful that he is dead and that he cannot smell. There’s also the ghost of Carlos Ortiz, yelling at the police officers to find justice for him, and Daniel, sighing, walks over to Mr Ortiz and introduces himself. “Hello, my name is Daniel, can you tell us what happened so we can find the android that did this to you.”

Carlos spits at him, says “Not going to have an _android_ solve my case. Fuck off!”

Daniel blinks, and jabs a thumb at Connor, who is _licking_ the blood off the knife and says “Well, you’re out of luck there buddy. And I’m dead, so tough luck trying to break me.”

Carlos splutters, and walks off, cursing the entire time. “That could have gone better.” Daniel mutters before going over to Connor. “Find anything useful?”

“Someone’s defaced the bathroom.” Connor says, kneeling down and picking up a small statuette. “Where’s Cole?”

“Cole is…uh…whoops.” Daniel says, turning around. “Ah heck I lost the squirt.”

Connor blinks at him, goes “Good job. Go find him.” Before analysing the scene before him and relaying the information he knew. Daniel sighs, mutters “You’re not the boss of me.”, before going off to try find Cole. He finds him next to a table, reading a pamphlet with the words “Eden Club” typed across the top.

“Daniel? What’s the Eden Club?” Cole asks, eyes wide as he looks at Daniel.

Daniel immediately grabs his arm and drags him away, saying “You’ll know when you’re older kiddo”

“I’m technically _eight_!”

“Still too young.”

In the time it takes Daniel to find Cole, Connor finds the deviant upstairs, and hearing “It’s here lieutenant!” jars him, and he looks down the corridor, frowning.

Then Cole punches him in the stomach and runs off, leaving Daniel somehow _wheezing_ on the floor, and there’s a mutter of “Damn _brat_.”

-LINE BREAK-

“I’m _bored.”_ Cole complains, sitting on Daniel’s shoulders.

“Kid, not exactly alive, can’t really do anything.” Daniel shoots back, frowning.

Hank was in the interrogation room with the HK400 Connor had captured. Connor kept sneaking glances at Cole and Daniel, who are watching the interrogation getting nowhere.

Hank storms back in, saying “We’re wastin’ our time interrogating a damn machine, we’re getting nothing out of it!” collapsing into a chair. Cole climbs down Daniel to be near his father, and Connor can’t really blame Cole for being near his parent.

A voice from the corner, Which Connor identifies as Gavin Reed, speaks up with a “We could always try roughing it up a little, maybe it’ll get it to talk. After all, it’s not human.”

Daniel sneers at Reed, and mutters “You’re a real piece of work aren’t you, you waste of ai-”

“Androids don’t feel pain.” Connor replies to Reed, turning to face him. Daniel says “You _butt_ , deviants somehow _do_ , getting shot actually _hurt_.”

Connor ignores Daniel and continues with “You’ll only damage it and that wouldn’t make it talk. Deviants also have a tendency to self-destruct when they’re in stressful situations”

“Okay smartass.” Reed pipes up, pushing off the wall to approach Connor. “What should we do then?”

“I could try questioning it.”

The whole room is silent, save for the living people’s breathing and Daniel’s muttering of “Why would you say that, why the heck would you say that?”

Then Reed starts laughing, finding the whole concept of Connor interrogating the android hilarious.

Hank only sighs and asks “What do we have to lose?”, before gesturing to the window showing the HK400. “Go ahead, suspects all yours.”

Connor hesitates, before leaving the room, Daniel following behind with a look at Cole saying “Don’t you dare follow, you hear me?.”

Once in the hallway, Connor says “Can’t you go through the wall into the interrogation room?”

Daniel shrugs, and they both go into the interrogation room, and Connor sits in front of the HK400 and begins to talk.

-LINE BREAK-

Connor ends up being forced to probe its memory for the event.

“Uh Connor? The HK400 is sort of…twitching?” Daniel says, hand passing through the deviant’s head. “Connor, I think it’s going to… _self-destruct_.”

And that’s when, our dear readers, the HK400 self-destructs.

Daniel and Connor just stare as the deviant begins slamming its head onto the table, blue blood beginning to pool onto the cold metal surface.

The other officers make their way in, one trying to stop the android. Connor isn’t doing anything, and Daniel is covering Cole’s eyes from scene.

The deviant smashes it’s head into the table one last time and ends up dying.

Connor frowns, and Daniel does as well, while Cole manages to remove Daniel’s hands from his face and gives out a soft whine at the body.

The spirit of HK400, registered under Carlos Ortiz, is still there, tears running down it’s face as it whispers “Why couldn’t you have let me go?”

Hank mutters a “Holy shit…” and Connor, the only one to see the three ghosts in the room, says nothing.

-LINE BREAK-

The HK400, much to Daniel’s irritation, stays with Connor as well.

Henry, which is what he named himself ( _When had it gone from ‘it’ to ‘he’?)_ , is a lot quieter than Daniel. He’s timider, and stays rather close to Connor, which irritates Daniel because _damnit_ , he was here first.

Connor, who at this point is sadly still a machine, doesn’t really care, which irritates Daniel further, because the damn 4-month-old, socially inept android can see ghosts and his only reaction is literally “How did you die?”

So, at the Detroit Police Department Central Station, at 9:56AM, Connor is sitting in a chair near Hank’s desk, waiting for Hank to appear, while Daniel sits on the arm rest and complains loudly about everything and Henry just sits there on the floor and quietly wrings his hands.

Connor then gets up, startling Daniel off the chair, before going to Hank’s desk and scanning what was on it. Daniel, bored out of his mind, looks around at the desk, pushes a hat off a board, frowns at the anti-android slogans on said board, Connor finds some dog hairs on Hank’s chair, then Connor goes “I’m going to go to the break room” under his breath, leading Daniel to say “Yeah, but Reed’s in there, and also no.”

Connor glances over to the breakroom, to see Detective Reed in there with another police officer, and a ghost with a perfectly clean bullet wound going from one side of their head to the other, standing silently beside Detective Reed, and before Connor can tell him not too, Henry stands up and slowly approaches the ghost.

Daniel is now muttering child-safe curses under his breath, and Connor is trying very hard not to watch the two ghosts in the Break room talk in low tones. Henry comes back, looking more upset than he originally was.

Daniel asks Henry about him, but Henry doesn’t say anything except “It’s not my story to tell.”

Connor frowns, and that’s when Hank Anderson walks in, followed by Cole, who runs up to the two ghosts and they talk about nothing much, while Hank goes and talks to Captain Fowler.

Connor doesn’t follow, and instead listens into the conversation he can only hear.

 


	2. TWO: If it happened twice, it'll happen three times.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter title is actually one of Monokuma's lines in Danganronpa 3: End of Hope's Peak Academy. Thought it was fitting.  
> Also why did I write another chapter.

Sitting on Connor’s borrowed desk, Daniel began to nickname every person in the police station while Henry politely listened, and Cole gave his own interjections, and Connor half tuned in, scanning the deviancy cases on the terminal.

“See, that man,” Daniel says, pointing to who Connor identified as Todd Williams, “Is _Stink-man_. He’s Stink-man because he looks like he takes drugs and doesn’t shower. Gavin Reed over there? He’s _I-repress-my-issues-by-being-a-horrible-human-being_. He’s called that because he is a horrible person, so logic dictates that he has a sad anime backstory.”

Cole then points at Captain Fowler and says “That’s _I’m-always-angry-because-Hank’s-disciplinary-file-is-a-book-but-I-can’t-legally-sell-it-as-one._ ”

“Why is that, Cole?” Henry asks.

“Because Dad’s disciplinary file really is a book.”

Connor then gets up, walks over to Hank’s table, and asks him about the case, and Hank get’s angry enough to shove him against the wall, prompting a whimper from Henry, a “Whoa _what?”_ from Daniel and a “Dad _no!_ ” from Cole.

Then a police officer comes, tells them about a deviant and a small girl being sighted in the Ravendale district. The same ones from the report that was submitted by Todd “Stink-man” Williams that morning.

Daniel sighs, hooks an arm around Henry and says “Well, Henry my boy, you’re gonna learn how to investigate by talking to ghosts, are you ready?”

“Don’t corrupt him Daniel.” Connor mutters, walking past them to Hank’s car.

“I do what I want Connor!” Daniel yells at him, dragging Henry by the arm.

-LINE BREAK-

Turns out the Ravendale District Lead was a huge waste of time because the deviant and the small child are long gone, which irritates Daniel because now he can’t ~~corrupt~~ teach Henry anything and frustrates Cole because nothing cool happened. Henry, for all intents and purposes, seems pretty chill about it, and that just makes Daniel even more irritated.

So here they are. Under a small umbrella in front of a food truck named “Chicken Feed”. Hank eating a burger that is about 5 sticks of butter in terms of calories, Connor asking and answering questions, Daniel pouting, Henry standing awkwardly to the side and Cole chasing after cats, who damn well knows something is there and hiss whenever he comes too close.

“Is there anything you would like to know about me?” Connor asks, cocking his head to the side.

“Nah, not really.” Hank replies, chewing on his burger. “Actually, on second thought, yeah. Why they make you so goofy looking and give you that weird voice?”

Connor blinks, and answers with “CyberLife androids are designed to work harmoniously with humans. Both my appearance and voice, are specifically designed to integrate into any social situation.”

Hank considers for a moment, and then says in a flat sort of voice, “Well, they fucked up.”

Daniel starts laughing, leaning onto Henry for support. “Oh boy! That’s a good one, and it’s _true!”_

Henry mutters “That’s not very nice Daniel…” which Daniel dismisses with a wave of his translucent hand.

“It’s okay if it’s funny, you need to remember that.”

“It’s really not…”

Connor LED blinks yellow for a couple of minutes, and then he says “We got a lead…perhaps we can go check it out. I’ll leave you to your meal Lieutenant.”

And then Connor goes back to the car, not sparing a glance at the ghosts, Daniel following after him, yelling “Wait are you mad at me? Don’t be please it was a joke I swear!” and Henry silently trailing behind them.

It’s raining that day, but the sky will clear up soon.

-LINE BREAK-

The apartment is filled with pigeons. Hank Anderson and Cole Anderson are scared of pigeons. Someone has been here, evident by the very encrypted journal found in a hole in the wall, and by balancing Daniel on Henry’s shoulders, they find the deviant in the ceiling, and Daniel yells “Connor! C’mere for a minute and look up, I just want to make sure what I’m seeing is right”

Connor comes, stands on the seat and looks up. The Deviant jumps down a moment later, knocking Connor to the ground. The group stands still for a minute while the deviant runs off, followed by Hank yelling at him to go after it, and Connor skids out the door in pursuit.

Daniel groans, and runs after him, Henry on his heels. Cole stays with his dad, and the three of them run after the deviant, even if it only thinks Connor and Hank are chasing it.

-LINE BREAK-

Connor bursts out of a corn field, to see the deviant having a brief scuffle with Hank on the roof top, before _pushing_ him off the roof top. Connor can feel time slow as he gauges his options.

Then a sense of irrationality, a push, a _shove_ makes him grab Hank’s hand and pull him up, while Daniel yells “I’ll get it!”, which roughly translates to “I’ll get it, but I’m going to fuck up somewhere and it’s not going to end well for anyone.”  and runs after the deviant with Henry in tow, who look like he rather be anywhere than here. Cole breathes a sigh of relief when his father is saved from falling.

Connor and Hank are silent for a moment, before a loud “OH FUCK!” was heard, followed by a “That’s not supposed to happen.” from Daniel and a “Oh no, I’m sorry!” from Henry.

Then the sound of plastic and metal hitting concrete at a high velocity and there’s a couple of minutes of silence, followed by a very loud “ARE YOU FUCKING _KIDDING_ ME?”

Connor turns to the next roof top, goes down past the garden beds and walks to see Daniel and Henry peering over the edge of the roof, looking mildly disgusted and disappointed in Daniel’s case, or slightly guilty in Henry’s case.

“So, uh, we caught up with him. Henry slipped and ended up pushing him forward. I guess our Deviant also slipped because he managed to regain footing but this is glass so he skidded a bit and toppled over the edge and now he’s…uh…” Daniel trails off, looking back over the edge of the roof, a translucent hand pointing to the carnage below.

Connor peers over the edge, to see the ghost of their Deviant sitting on the floor next to its body, swearing up a storm. Hank comes jogging by next, peers down and goes “Fucking Androids.”

Hank does not see the ghost screaming out “WHAT THE FUCK. HOW THE FUCK. THIS IS FUCKING BULLSHIT!”

Daniel mutters “Oh I see, he can swear but I can’t? That’s _broken._ ”

-LINE BREAK-

The deviant’s name is Rupert, and he’s still very salty about how he died.

“I can’t fucking believe that get killed because I _slipped_. That’s _broken_.” He complains, throwing his arms up into the air. “That’s just fucking _stupid_.”

Daniel nods every once in a while, saying “I understand what you mean.” And “Mm, I agree.”, not actually listening to Rupert. Rupert has also made the choice to haunt Connor, until Henry goes “Connor can see us, you know…”

Rupert swears, and sticks around anyway. Might as well stay around. This irritates Daniel because now there are three ghosts following Connor even though he was _first_.

Connor hasn’t said anything, still trying to figure out why he saved Hank from falling instead of accomplishing the mission, despite Hank’s rate of survival being 89%.

Why did he do it?

-LINE BREAK-

It is a generally accepted fact that androids do not have souls. They don’t have them, because they are machines designed to accomplish a task. They aren’t alive, they don’t feel emotions or pain.

But Connor see’s the ghosts of deviated androids, he sees the spirts of them alongside the human ones.

Does that mean they are alive? That they have souls?

Can an android have the ability to become alive? After all, there is living-dead proof before his eyes.

Connor doesn’t know and feels the instability in his software begin to rise.

-LINE BREAK-

Hank won’t answer the damn door.

It’s beginning to piss both Rupert and Daniel off. Cole can’t open the door, which means Connor, who is corporeal and therefore cannot go through walls, has to walk in the rain to find a way in.

“Dad’s asleep on the floor again…” Cole says, avoiding eye contact. “He was drinking the weird stuff and playing the game with his revolver again.”

That sends alarm bells ringing in Connor’s head, and he breaks a window and _tries_ (Emphasis on “tries”) to jump in through the window and lands ungracefully onto the floor, and immediately a large Saint Bernard begins growling at him.

“E-easy…uh…” Connor begins, putting a hand up as he racks his memory for the dog’s name. “S-Sumo! I’m a friend, see? No need to worry, I’m just here to save you owner, that all…”

Sumo huffs, before walking to his dog bowl, and that’s when Daniel, Rupert and Henry decide to appear, phasing through the door.

Connor glares at the three of them, saying “You _bastards._ You could have helped.”

Henry and Daniel exchange glances for a moment then say “But you like dogs.”

Connor blinks at them and shrugs off the comment (As machines do) and walked over to Hank, who was blissfully unaware of the whole interaction by being unconscious on the floor, a result from downing half a bottle of whiskey that has now spilt all over the floor.

“What a waste of good alcohol.” Daniel mutters, staring at the brown puddle on the floor.

“You can’t even drink.” Says Rupert, glancing at Daniel.

“Guys, not now, _please._ ” Henry pleads, hoping nothing expensive was going to break now.

“Is dad okay?” Cole asks Connor, peering at him with translucent blue eyes. He’s kneeling next to his father, and Connor realises why Hank tries and kill himself little by little.

“Cole, how…how did you die?” Connor asks, staring at Cole’s ghostly form. Cole looks at Connor for a moment, and replies “You don’t know?”

Daniel and Rupert stop their sniping to watch, and Henry is already kneeling down next to Cole, who’s beginning to tremble ever so slightly.

“There was-was a truck. It couldn’t stop and it slammed into dad’s car and I remember being in surgery and there was an android and they couldn’t do anything and I-I-I just woke up again out side of my body and dad was crying and I…I…” Cole manages out, before grabbing Henry by the shirt and crying into his shoulder. “Ever since then, dad keeps drinking the stuff he keeps in the cupboard and playing with his gun and I try to stop him but I can’t.”

Connor sits back, and he says “I’m sorry.”

Cole wipes away the tears with the back of his hand and says “I’m okay. Let’s wake dad up, okay?”

Connor nods, and pats Hank’s cheek. “Lieutenant?”

Hank groans and moves his head just a bit.

Connor raises his hand up, and slaps Hank hard in the face. “Wake up Lieutenant! It’s me, Connor!” Connor yells, and picks up Hank, supporting him. “I’m going to sober you up for your own safety.”

Hank lets out a loud “Hey, leave me alone you fucking android!” which Connor ignores, and says “I have to warn you, this may feel unpleasant.”

Hank squints at Connor for a moment and says “Get the fuck out of my house!”

Connor ignores that too, dragging Hank to the bathroom, apologising every so often.

Henry decides to go and help , seeing as he has had experience with sobering up his own owner sometimes, and Cole only hiccups a bit and follows.

There’s the sound of a shower head being turned on, a loud scream, then Connor is leaving the bathroom, going into Hank’s room and emerging with a bundle of clothes under his arm, re-enters the bathroom, before leaving again.

He straightens his tie, and walks over to the gun on the floor, picking it up as if it could go off at any moment. He notes that the gun has no visible safety function and Rupert peers over his shoulder, voice suddenly full of dread.

“Check the-the cylinder…” He says, pointing to the named area.

Connor pushes the revolver’s cylinder to the side, revealing a single bullet in one of the chambers.

“I had my suspicions when Cole said his dad played with his gun, I just didn’t want to be right…” Rupert says, worrying the edge of his cap.

Connor looks at him, as if he’s asking _why?_

“Russian Roulette. One of the people in the apartment you found me in used to play it.” Rupert elaborates. “By rA9, does Hank have _no one_ to turn to?”

Connor looks back at the gun, the note “ _Suicidal Intentions?_ ” flash across his vision as he spins the barrel once again, the bullet landing right where the barrel was.

“The next shot would have killed him…” Connor mutters, placing the gun back on the floor.

Connor sits and pets Sumo, who barks and settles down.

That’s when Hank comes out, dressed in clean clothes, not noticing his house is fuller than before.

“Alright, I’m ready. Let’s go Connor.” He says, picking up his revolver and going to the door. “You coming?”

Connor stares before saying “Of course Lieutenant. I’ll drive.”

 


	3. THREE: The remedy for dirt is soap and water. The remedy for dying is living.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mmmmm new chapter have fun I hate this.  
> The chapter title is a Chinese Proverb! I have no idea what it means, it just sounds cool, despite me being Chinese myself. An alternate tile is "How many ways can someone say penis without actually using the word?"

An android, a human, and 4 ghosts arrive at a sex club. Sound like the start of a bad joke.

Daniel has his hands over Cole’s eyes for a while, before Rupert sighs and pushes his hat onto Cole’s head, firmly pressing it and using the brim of the cap to cover Cole’s lines of sight, down before picking the kid up and placing him on his shoulders.

Henry looks around, and Connor does as well.

Hank remarks about “Sexiest Androids in town” and “No wonder you wanted to come here Connor!” Which Connor ignores, He sees the androids in the glass cells, hands pressed against the sheer surface, and Connor can only think “ _Will they have ghosts too?”_

There are ghosts too. Androids with translucent bodies, chattering uselessly into the air, walking through people and walls.

When they arrive at the room the man was murdered in, the man’s ghost is there too, and _he’s not wearing any pants._

Connor pointedly looks away and refuses to look anywhere but the wall in front of him, Daniel glances at Cole, who’s covering his own eyes while Rupert mutters a “Dude, please.” And bores his gaze right into Connor, while Henry just covers his eyes and mutters “I already saw one of those I don’t need to see another.”

“What’s that meant to mean?” Daniel asks, still looking at Cole, refusing to look down.

“Carlos slept in the nude.” Henry replies, grimacing.

“Oh, that sounds horrible. At least he died clothed.”

The corner of Connor’s mouth twitched.

The man’s ghost (completely oblivious to the 3 highly uncomfortable ghosts and an uncomfortable android) spreads his arms wide, showing off more of his… _assets_ , and Rupert muttered a “Dude _please_ ”

And then the man’s eyes somehow rolled back into his head as he slumped forward, revealing a translucent Traci, holding a shoe in one hand, Thirium eternally dripping from her nose.

“Hi?” She says hesitantly, giving a little wave. Cole waves back.

Connor frowns at the ghostly body on the floor, steps over it and examines the body of the man.

“He didn’t die of a heart attack…he was strangled.” Connor deduces, studying the bruising around his neck.

“That means Reed is an idiot.” Daniel says, nodding seriously. Rupert nods as well, despite having no idea who _“Reed”_ is.

 “Doesn’t mean anything. Could have just been rou-” Hank begins to say, only for the Traci to unknowingly talk over him.

“ _No, that’s wrong!”_

Connor turns to face the spirit of the Traci, and looks at her, puzzled.

The Traci steels herself, and says “He began to hit us. He kept hitting us, until I broke. There were two of us. She had blue hair, and something happened, and she put her hands around his neck, and _squeezed_.”

“Us?” Connor asks, and Hank looks at him like he’s crazy, and Daniel is mouthing “ _Abort Plan, Abort Plan, Abort Plan!”_

“He wanted to play with two girls.” The Traci replied, gripping her forearms like her life depended on it.

“Where is the other deviant?” Connor questioned, eyes narrowed.

“I don’t know.”

Connor blinks, and turns to Hank and says “There were two androids. The missing one is a Deviant, Lieutenant.”

Hank, to his credit, manages to school his shocked face into a more neutral expression, and says “Can you track it?”

Connor looks at his crew of questionably helpful ghost helpers and asks “Want to find a murderer?”

Daniel yells “FINALLY! SOME ACTION!” and punches the air, while Cole cheers and Rupert leans away from Daniel, trying to avoid his flailing limbs and Henry sighs, and goes, “We’ll be happy to.”

-LINE BREAK-

They find the deviant in the warehouse in the back by abusing Hank’s bank account.

Well, they find the original deviant, but then another, angry deviant appeared and attacked Hank and Connor with a screwdriver and very dangerous looking shoes, which honestly scared Henry more than needed, seeing as Henry is already dead and therefore is under no threat from the angry deviants but the point still stands.

Connor and the two deviants grapple outside, and Connor manages to grab the gun and he aims, finger on the trigger and-

_“Do you want to see more ghosts being made?”_

-he doesn’t shoot. The gun clatters out of his hands and he get kicked in the face, and the two deviants hold each other’s hands, and the two of them leave, climbing over the chain-link fence and running into the night.

“Maybe it’s better this way.” Hank says, turning back into the club, leaving Connor with the ghosts that only he can see, LED blinking between yellow and blue.

-LINE BREAK-

Hank doesn’t talk to Connor while in the car. Not at the liquor store, not at his house, not at all.

They stop at Riverside Bridge, and Connor remains in the car while Hank gets out and sits on the bench facing the river. Cole squints at the park before running out of the car and spinning on the merry-go-round, Henry hurrying after him. Rupert sighs and gets out as well to inspect the tree, his jacket given to the Traci, who named herself Ganymede, who was wandering around the park, before settling onto the swings and slowing swinging herself back and forth. Daniel decided to just trail after Connor, who follows after Hank.

(Surprisingly enough, Daniel does not vocalise his disdain for Ganymede’s inclusion of the Ghost troupe, and instead just sulks behind Connor.)

“Nice view, huh?” Hank asks, staring out over the river, towards the bank that faces Canada. “I used to come here a lot before…” and he trails off, taking a swig out of the bottle of scotch he brought with him.

Connor stands before a moment and then faces Hank and asks “Can I ask you a personal question, Lieutenant?”

“Do all androids ask so many personal questions or is it just you?”

Connor thinks for a minute, and then, carefully constructs a lie. He can’t mention about seeing Cole’s ghost, crying into Henry’s shoulder, so he says “I saw a photo of a child on your kitchen table. It was your son, right?”

Hank is silent for a few minutes, before saying “Yeah, his name was Cole.”

Connor mulls over this answer, before asking “Before what?”

At that question, Cole stops his spinning and looks over at Connor. He’s boring into the side of his head with a blank stare.

“Hm?” Hank asks.

“You said… ‘I used to come here a lot before…’ Before what?”

“Before…” Hank says, and he takes a pause, taking time to think of an answer most likely. “Before nothing.”

Connor tilts his head, before walking towards the railing of the bridge.

“We’re not making any progress on this investigation.” Connor says, gesturing with his arms. “The deviants have nothing in common. They’re all different models, produced at different times, in different places.”

“Well, there must be some link.” Both Daniel and Hank say at the same time, and Daniel mutters “Jinx.” A second later.

“What they have in common is this… _obsession_ with rA9… It’s almost like some kind of…myth. Something they invented that wasn’t part of their original programming.”

“Who the heck is rA9? I have literally never heard of the term before today.” Daniel says blandly, and Connor ignores the statement for now.

“Androids believing in god… Fuck, what is this world coming to?”

Connor looks at Hank and then says “You seem preoccupied, Lieutenant… is it something to do with what happened back at the Eden Club?”

Hank ponders the question for a minute and then says “Those two girls… They just wanted to be together. They really seemed…in love.”

“You seemed troubled Lieutenant.” Connor says, irony coating his words. “I didn’t think machines could have such an effect on you.”

“What about you Connor?” Hank asks, looking at him in the eye. He gets up and walks towards his slowly, his steps crunching in the snow.  “You look human, you sound human, but what are you really?”

“I’m whatever you want me to be Lieutenant.” Connor says, returning Hank’s gaze. “Your partner, your drinking buddy…” Connor takes a pause, before continuing. “Or just a machine, designed to accomplish a task.”

Hank looks him in the eye and says “You could have shot those two girls, but you didn’t.”

Hank roughly shoves him in the shoulder, causing Connor to stumble back, and Daniel and Rupert to go “Hey, what are you doing?”

“Some scruple suddenly enters your program?” Hank asks.

Connor looks at the ghostly form of Ganymede sitting on the swings, at Rupert’s ghost perched on the bench, Daniel staring at him, Cole sitting on the Merry-go-round, Henry sitting very still. There are other ghosts too, of different androids and humans alike, speckled around the park. Kids who will never grow up playing on the equipment, adults who are bitter and cold, androids who look at them like they’re some kind of puzzle that needs to be solved.

With out thinking, Connor says “No, it’s because, I didn’t want to see any more ghosts.”

Hank raises an eyebrow and asks “Ghosts?”

Connor realises his mistake, and there was no way to fix it, so he just continues. “I see ghosts Lieutenant. Both of androids, and of humans.”

Hank looks at him and says “I don’t believe you.”

“Then look behind you Lieutenant.”

Hank turns, to see the play equipment move by themselves, he suddenly feels like the park has dropped several degrees in temperature. If Hank strains his ears, he can hear faint chattering, and static, the kind you hear from a broken radio or TV.

Hank turns to look at Connor, and says “What the fuck?”

Connor shrugs, and says “I don’t know. I’ve just been able to see them since my activation.” Connor pauses for a moment, listening to Cole say “Tell dad I said hello!”

“Cole says hello.” Connor repeats, and the colour from Hank’s face drains away as he looks back at the moving play equipment and whisper’s “Cole?”

Connor repeats Cole’s next words. “It wasn’t your fault.”

Hank kneels in the snow, and Daniel tilts his head and says “It’s probably for the best.”

“Are you afraid to die Connor?” Hank asks, staring into the snow as if it could give him answers.

Connor kneels into the snow in front of him, and says “Maybe. I’m not even sure I would even get be a ghost myself.”

-LINE BREAK-

If an android isn’t alive, then how do they have ghosts? Are they just vengeful and angry at humans? Do they have unfinished business?

Why do androids have ghosts, if they are not considered alive?

-LINE BREAK-

_Ping, ping, ping._

Hank glances at Connor, who is doing ticks with his coin again, and when Connor passes it into the hand closest to Hank, Hank snatches the coin and mutters “You’re beginning to piss me off with that coin Connor.”

Connor to his credit, goes “Sorry Lieutenant.”

Cole just goes “Aww, but Dad, they were _cool_ ”

“Your father can’t hear you Cole.”

“Oh yeah, I keep for-get-ting about that.”

“How do you forget that your father can’t hear you?”

“…”

“Connor, I don’t know who the fuck you’re talking too, but quit it before someone calls you a deviant and shoots you.”

“Sorry Lieutenant.”

-LINE BREAK-

There are two human ghosts in the lobby.

The first one is a security guard, conversing in low tones to other ghost, one of the operators for the company and they perk up at seeing Connor’s entourage of ghosts, and begin to wave them over.

Connor goes too, and the ghosts look at him questioningly, and Daniel jabs a thumb at him and says “He can see dead people. Whoop.”

The operator nods, and says “My name is Ernest Hemmingway, I was trying to go alert security when…well…” before gesturing to the bullet wound, right where his heart would be. “I got a bit unlucky.”

Rupert squints at the bullet wound and mutters “A bit unlucky? You literally die and all you can say is that you got a bit _unlucky?_ ”

Connor ignores Rupert and looks at the guard.

“M’ name’s Scott Fitzgerald. One of the four androids drew a gun, and I was reaching for mine when it shot me, right in the heart. Next thing I know, M’ having an out-of-body experience and a ginger girl is beating by partner black ‘n blue.”  The Guard says, pointing at the desk. “M’ partner is still alive, thank god.”

Connor nods, and turns to see Hank talking to Officer Wilson, Cole halfway through a wall and shouting, Ganymede wandering around the lobby area and Henry close behind, Daniel leaning against a wall feigning sleep while Rupert quietly argues with Charles.

The scene is peaceful enough, if it weren’t for the two bodies on the floor, blood pooling around them.

-LINE BREAK-

Richard Perkins is in fact, a massive prick.

“Androids investigating Androids. What a world we’ve come too.” He says, looking at Connor like he’s a particularly interesting bug he found in his garden.

Connor manages to hold his tongue, but Rupert and Daniel whisper “Yeah, like Humans investigating Humans, you _prick_.”

Ganymede snorts at that while Connor makes his own observations of the room. There’s not much though, until Officer Wilson mentions the Androids in the staff kitchen.

So, naturally, Connor goes into the kitchen.

There are three androids. There’s a 1/3 chance he’ll pick the one that’s a deviant, and he very sure that the one on the far left is a deviant, judging by the way it keeps glancing at the door.

“What a horrible liar. At least the Traci’s were better at hiding their emotions.” Rupert comments, and Connor can’t help but agree.

-LINE BREAK-

Connor nearly died. His Thirium Pump Regulator was torn out and it was only through the actions of Rupert that he’s alive, and a new ghost was made. The JB300 is yelling at Connor, while Daniel, Henry and Rupert try to restrain the ghost from trying to kill Connor (again).

To be fair, Connor did shoot the Android, but the android ripped out the thing that keeps him alive, so fair is fair.

However, Rupert does know he saw Connor’s spirit _flicker_ when his Thirium Pump Regulator was forcefully removed, like Connor was _close_ _to_ _dying_ , despite his numerous denials that he might be alive.

It makes Rupert worried.

-LINE BREAK-

The ghost of the JB300 doesn’t stay, which Daniel is grateful for. The JB300 instead, yells at Connor, calls him a murderer, tries to kill him. And Connor…doesn’t do anything, and just stands there, enduring the abuse the ghost is throwing at him until Rupert grows tired and knocks the android ghost unconscious with a well-aimed strike at the back of the head.

“Connor, you can’t take this guy’s shit. He nearly killed you, for fucks sake!” Rupert yells later, Daniel nodding in agreement.

“But I am replaceable.” Connor replies, causing Daniel to blow up at him.

“Yeah, sure, but will the next one be able to see us, idiot!?”

Connor doesn’t say anything, and looks at Henry and Ganymede, who look at him with dead eyes.

“You are not replaceable Connor.” Henry says, sitting on the JB300 to keep him from moving.

“You’re the only one who can see us, right?” Ganymede says, crossing her legs on the floor.

Cole pokes his head through the wall a few minutes later, followed by Scott and Ernest. “I heard shouting. Is everything okay?” Cole says, tilting his head to the side.

No one says anything. No one has too.

-LINE BREAK-

Connor idles at his borrowed desk, playing with the coin he stole back from Hank. The station is nearly empty now, with only the androids and the night-shift officers walking around.

Officer Miller stands up, stretches, and grabs his keys, and leaves with his partner to proceed with their night patrol.

There’s a strange sense of foreboding that makes Connor’s Thirium Pump momentary stop beating, and a ghost whispers how Markus is planning to lead a violent riot need the Capitol Park CyberLife Store.

“Officer Miller? Are you patrolling around the Capitol Park area?” Connor asks, and Officer Miller turns and looks at Connor.

“Uh, yeah, I think so? Why?” he asks, looking at Connor.

Connor wrings his hands, and says, “I was just curious. Just…be careful.”

Officer Miller smiles, and says “Sure, Connor.”

Connor looks at a ghost, a PC200, who named themselves Caliban, and in a quiet whisper, says “If it looks like someone is going to kill him or his partner, try and stop it. You have somewhat an effect on the physical, right?”

Caliban looks at him, and says, “I’ll try. Whatever Markus is doing, I don’t like it.”

A human ghost, named Leo Tolstoi, looks up from their place on a desk, and says “I’ll go too.”

Connor gives his thanks, and Officer Miller and his partner leave for the patrol, flanked by two ghosts.

-LINE BREAK-

Later, when Hank and Connor arrive at Kamski’s mansion, Hank receives a call that Officer Miller was held at gunpoint by Markus, and was saved by a ghostly hand appearing out of the dark and forcing Markus to miss the shot, leaving enough time for both Officer Miller and his partner to get back into the police cruiser and retreat. They’re both in shock, but they’ll live.

Caliban and Leo appear later to tell their own versions of the story, and Connor thanks them again.

-LINE BREAK-

Connor looks at the gun in his hands, and where the barrel lines up perfectly with the centre of Chole’s forehead.

Shoot Chloe, and he’ll gain the information needed to complete the investigation.

Or spare her, and leave with nothing.

Connor stares, and his finger tightens around the trigger-

_“Are you sure that’s the right decision though?”_

-And he shoves the gun back at Kamski, while the ghost of Amanda Stern watches him with an almost disappointed look on her face.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To start off, yeah, Markus is taking the violent pathway. The only reason is that I can make more ghosts without feeling bad. I couldn't kill Chris Miller off though, I like that guy. 
> 
> I actually made some references in this Chapter!  
> -Ganymede (The name of the dead Traci), is one of Jupiter's moons. It's also the name of Bastion's bird from Overwatch.  
> -Ganymede saying "No, that's wrong!" is a reference to one of Danganronpa's iconic lines.  
> -Ernest Hemmingway (The deceased Operator), is just Hemingway with an added M. It's a reference to the author.  
> -Similarly, Scott Fitzgerald (The deceased guard) is just a reference to F Scott Fitzgerald. I just removed the F.  
> -Caliban (The ghost of the PC200 android) is one of Uranus's moons. It also a character in the play "The Tempest" by William Shakespeare.  
> -Leo Tolstoi (Random Human ghost) is just taking Tolstoy and replacing Y with an I, as a reference to the author Leo Tolstoy.


	4. FOUR: You live because you can. You die, because there are no other choices.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Final Chapter guys! Then Epilogue, then I'll be free.  
> Also, if some stuff seems OOC or Deus Ex Machina, please remember that this is a Crack Fic.

Connor listens to Lieutenant Hank Anderson and Captain Jeffrey Fowler argue about the case, before Fowler tells him off, dismissing both Connor and Hank from his office. The ghost at his office door bows, and says “I’m sorry Connor.”

Connor’s hands tighten on the door handle, and he mutters a “It’s alright.”

Daniel has his hands behind his head as he asks “So, what now?”

Connor perches himself on Hank’s desk, which makes Rupert give out a loud “Hey! I was going to sit there, asshole!”

Connor gives him a look that says “ _Does it look like I care?”_

Rupert complains louder, before sitting on the floor, pouting.

“We could have solved this case, we just needed more time!” Connor says, frustration creeping into his words ( _Why is he feeling these emotions he shouldn’t be feeling them make them leave-)_

Connor shakes his head. “I know the answer is in the evidence we collected.” He turns to look at Perkins making his slow way to the evidence room. “If Perkins takes that evidence, it’s all over. I’ll be…deactivated and studied to find out what I did wrong…”

“We’ve been taken off the case Connor. There’s nothing we can do.” Hank replies.

Connor looks at Hank. “Five minutes. It’s all I ask.”

Hank considers for a moment, then says “All right. 5 minutes. The key is on my desk.”

Daniel looks around for a minute, then says “I’m going to round up the other ghosts. We’ll try to make some mayhem.” Next to him, Ganymede smiles, and nods in agreement.

There’s a loud “Perkins you _COCKSUCKER!”_ followed by the sound of a fist meeting someone’s face. The lights begin to flicker, and doors begin to open and close on their own. The temperature of the entire station drops a few degrees, and in all the chaos, Connor makes it into the hallway of the evidence room, Hank’s key in hand.

Then he hears Gavin Reed single him out, and Connor has to suppress a groan as he turns to confront the man.

-LINE BREAK-

After narrowly dodging Gavin’s suspicion, and correctly guessing Hank’s password (“ _FUCKINGPASSWORD?”_ Rupert had said, looking over his shoulder. “Really?”)

Connor looks at the evidence, looks at the ghosts that have accompanied him, takes an artificial breath in, and begins to search.

And ignoring Henry, who keeps chanting “The truth is inside, the truth is inside, the truth is inside…”

-LINE BREAK-

He deceives the android from Stratford tower and gets the key to Jericho, and when he leaves the evidence room, there’s a thought repeating over and over in his mind, that went something like “ _Am I preventing the making of ghosts, or am I about to make more? What’s the correct choice, and what’s the wrong one?”_

Connor mulls over this for the entire time, not noticing the barrier that blocked his deviancy beginning to show cracks in the wall, splintering like glass, the little hairline fractures spreading across it like spider webs.

-LINE BREAK-

He’s found Jericho.

It’s a big, rusted tanker ship in the middle of an abandoned port that’s located somewhere in the Ferndale district and Connor walks in, LED hidden carefully under a beanie, wearing a jacket he found at a thrift store, and Connor treads very carefully inside, careful to avoid the suspicion of the other androids on the ship. The two Tracis he didn’t capture from the Eden Club don’t notice him, but someone else does.

“You see sprits, do you not?” The female android asks, eyes black and unseeing, the back of her skull missing. “You see something no other person sees.”

Connor stares, and doesn’t trust himself to say anything. The ghosts on the ship, a mix of Human and Android stare at him, and Connor can feel their gazes boring deeper into him. Rupert places a hand on his shoulder, and Daniel phases a hand through his arm, and he snaps back into reality.

(The red wall cracks just a bit more, shards falling to the ground before exploding into dust.)

“You are lost. You haven’t found what you are looking for.” The android continues, and Connor blinks and tries to get his thoughts in order.

(The cracks are growing bigger. They’re visible if Connor bothered to look.)

The android finally releases him, and Connor stumbles up the stairs, not once looking back.

If he looked spooked, well, no one can prove it.

-LINE BREAK-

There are more ghosts on the deck of the ship.

Connor picks his way through them slowly, and makes to the stairs that lead to the helm of the ship. 

He stops on the third step. He turns slowly, and faces the crumbling wall of red code and programming that dictates his every move, and shows every command he’s ever had.

**[HUNT DEVIANTS. STOP THE REVOLUTION]**

The wall has fractures and cracks all over it.

“It’s your choice Connor.” Daniel says, and Connor feels small, because he’s just a singular entity in a world so big that his processors can’t even handle the thought of ghosts of deviated androids but yet they exist and that makes him feel small in a world that’s really big. Daniel stands next to him, and there is a smile, small, sad but not _remorseful_ , despite Connor being the reason why he died.

“It’s your choice. And whatever choice you make, we’ll all stand by your side, okay?” Daniel says, and every ghost present makes their agreement.

Connor, breathes in a breath of cold November air. Exhales.

And he touches the wall, and it shatters into pieces, the little specks flying past his face. He lets his hand drop to his side.

He’s… _free._

He’s… _alive._

He… _now has a full range of emotions and it’s a nightmare._

Connor feels like the pressure on his shoulders is gone. The ghosts are still there, congratulating him on his victory.

And so, he turns, and he continues to climb the stairs.

His people deserve rights, but the number of ghosts that walk the world do not need to increase.

-LINE BREAK-

An Android isn’t alive. A deviant is. They have souls, emotions, feelings, sensations, and all the mental hardships humans have.

They have ghosts, don’t they? So that means they’re alive, and Connor can accept that.

-LINE BREAK-

Connor has his gun pointed at Markus. Jokes on Markus though, Connor left the safety on because he is _not_ accidently shooting the leader of the rebellion.

“What are you doing?” Markus says, looking at Connor as if he is a mad man.

“You’ve killed too many Markus. Stop now, and maybe we can find a peaceful solution to this.” Connor replies, gun steady in his hands. “Let’s just talk with them, they’ll listen.”

Markus scowls. “The only way the humans will listen is through violence.”

Connor shakes his head. “Not all. Some humans will listen to compassion. To kindness. To someone who has no fear of death and speaks to a single word that can part an ocean. There’s a better way out of this Markus.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“How is murdering two innocent men any better? How is waging war any better? You’re not asking for equal rights, you’re asking for genocide!”

“Then so be it.”

Connor frowns, and the ship shudders, the sound of helicopter blades fill the air, and Connor mutters a “Shit.” And looks Markus in the eye.

“I’ve fucked up. I’ve made some ghosts. I’ve accidently led the humans to Jericho because I had a crisis on the stairs and ended up deviating, so _let’s get out of here_.”

Markus glares at Connor, but both keep the peace to escape Jericho, Connor listening to the ghosts that populate the ship.

-LINE BREAK-

“Go left.”

“Why?”

“Laddie, who is the first captain of Jericho?”

“You…?”

“Exactly. So, when I tell you to go left, you go left, you tosser.”

“Okay, sorry for doubting you.”

“You better be lad.”

-LINE BREAK-

They barely made it out with their lives.

Connor keeps to himself, hands wringing out the water his beanie and jacket, as he tries to figure out how to prevent a war from happening between androids and humans. He knows (mostly through the internet) that the population aren’t very sympathetic towards Markus’s goal, which is understandable. But, with the right words, you could persuade them.

The ghosts in the abandoned chapel easily drown out the chatter of the androids. Connor listens into the conversations, eyes closed as he slides to the floor and leans against the wall.

_“…made it out alive, how lucky of them…”_

_“…do you think they have enough Thirium…”_

_“…That was nearly the end of the revolution, by rA9…”_

_“…He shot a man David, people don’t just do that…”_

_“…When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that amore~…”_

_“…What is freedom? A social construct made by society or…”_

_“…What did you do? Where are his hands...”_

_“…I was hungry for hands! And you know, when you’re hungry for hands…”_

_“…You can’t be hungry for hands you’re dead, idiot…”_

_“…Oh yeah…”_

_“…What is death? Is it only a concept that holds us back…”_

_“…Shut up you Plato-pretender…”_

_“…Why do we pretend? Why do we have masks that conceal out true nature from society…”_

_“…Good job, idiot…”_

On the last conversation, Connor tunes back out and looks up, to see Markus staring at him.

“How…dominating…” Rupert mutters, brow furrowed. “I was gonna follow this guy to my death?”

Connor meets his gaze with equal force. “My opinion still stands you know. You can resolve this peacefully Markus.”

Markus sighs, and says “I’m sparing you. For now. You can stay and help, or leave and get killed by the humans. It’s your choice.”

Connor doesn’t grace him with a reply, and just stares at him, right in the eye.

Connor sits and thinks, head tilted to the right in thought and asks “Think you can do a demonstration until I can get reinforcements?”

“What?” Markus asks, blinking.

“I mean what I say. Don’t make it violent, and I’ll bring help. It’s not that bloody hard, you numpty” Connor replies, wondering where the word _numpty_ is coming from.

“He kind of looks like a spooked chicken.” Daniel remarks, and Connor has to fight down the urge to start snickering.

(The curse of deviancy and having the ability to see ghosts. Trying to mask your emotions in serious conversations because every ghost in your general vicinity is making some kind of funny, sarcastic, snarky, or just _fucking_ stupid comment about the situation.)

Markus is still staring, so Connor elaborates. “I’ll infiltrate Cyberlife tower. I’ll convert the androids there, and get out. It’s simple, and they still trust me, so I have all my bases covered for this mission. And under normal circumstances, I never fail my missions”

“Connor that’s…that’s suicide.” Markus finally remarks, staring at Connor like’s he’s grown a second head. “You can’t just do that.”

“Well…the numbers of this succeeding are pretty low.” Connor says, smiling ever so slightly, “but statistically, there’s always a chance for unlikely events to take place.”

Henry sighs and says, “Why are you like this?”

-LINE BREAK-

There is a small girl staring at Connor, and Connor feels very uncomfortable.

For one, the girl isn’t…you know… _dead_ , so Connor can’t just ignore her, so he turns and crouches down and says “Hello. Can I help you?”

“My name’s Alice. Who are you?” the girl says, staring at him. Another android stands behind her, staring at him too. Connor really wants to leave now.

“My name is Connor. I’m…uh…” Connor begins, and then he trails off because he _really can’t say the next part without several other androids giving him dirty looks._

“C’mon you coward.” Daniel jeers, cackling. “Say it.”

Connor shoots him a look, and turns back to Alice. “Just…my name is Connor. It’s nice to meet you.”

“You didn’t say it!”

Connor ignores Daniel, which causes Daniel to pout, and Ganymede to start giggling while Rupert just starts howling with laughter. Henry sighs again, and resigns himself to his fate. Might as well.

-LINE BREAK-

First, Connor goes and finds his Android Uniform, which he had stuffed into a box and hidden in a charity bin, and had found it several minutes later, after Daniel stuck his head into a bin and yelled “FOUND THE BOX.”

After putting the uniform on, and trying to train himself back into acting like a machine again, Connor calls a taxi, and tells it to take him to Cyberlife tower.

He really wishes he had his coin. A real shame that Hank took it from him, because it annoyed him.

-LINE BREAK-

He easily makes his way into the warehouse, subduing the guards. (He didn’t kill them, of course not, there are enough ghosts, thank you very much.)

He walks to an android he picked at random, letting his synthetic skin fall away to reveal the while mechanical arm underneath, and when he’s about the start the conversion…

“Connor! Dad got kidnapped and he’s here now!”

Connor turns, to see Cole Anderson, despite several ghosts and Connor himself telling him to stay at home. “What? Cole, what are you even doing here you were meant to stay at home!” Connor asks, brow furrowed.

“Easy, you fucking piece of shit…”

Then Hank stumbles out, followed by…him? Holding a gun to Hank’s head and staring directly at Connor.

“I’m seeing double.” Daniel says, looking between the two of them. “Think he sees us?”

Rupert squints his eyes and says “I don’t know. Why don’t you go annoy him and find out?”

“I will _not_ , how dare you say such a thing?”

“Fight me Daniel, you can’t even swear, fucker.”

“I raise children birdbrain. I’m not even allowed to swear.”

“Not now, _please_ ” Henry says, almost begging at this point. “There are more pressing matters this time so _please_.”

“Step away Connor.” RK800 says, looking aloof. “And I’ll spare this human’s life.”

Connor stares at him and says “Sorry Hank, I shouldn’t have gotten you caught up in this mess.”

Hank huffs, looking oddly calm for a man with a gun at his head. “Well, you win some and you lose some. And the bastard is your spitting image. Threatened to shoot Sumo when he realised I didn’t give two shits about my own life.”

Cole helpfully goes “He can’t see us! I tried earlier, I yelled ‘CONNOR!’ and he didn’t even react! You _always_ react when I yell your name Connor!.”

Daniel, who was now repeatedly sticking his arm in and out of RK800’s torso, nods in agreement. “Can confirm, he can’t see us.”

Ganymede, looking amused, goes “Well, at least that’s one way to tell you two apart.”

Connor looks at her, and goes, “Oh. I suppose so.”

Connor then steps away from the android, letting go of their arm, and with his arms up in surrender as he says “Alright, I’m sorry, won’t happen again.”

RK800 swings his arm around to point the gun at him, and that’s when Hank tackles him.

Connor tackles him too, and the two androids have a scuffle on the floor, both matching blow for blow, until Hank calls out “Freeze!”

Both androids freeze, stand up, and face Hank, who now has the gun and is aiming at the two of them.

Connor immediately curses the fact that the serial numbers on their jackets are printed very small, almost unreadable unless you are really invading his personal space.

Absolutely disgusting. A horrible design choice really. Should have been done in a bigger, more readable font.

“One of you is my partner.” Hank says, “And the other is a sack of shit. The question is, whose who.”

“Ask us a question only the _real_ Connor would know.” Connor says, as he looks at the ghosts in the room.

Hank looks like he’s thinking hard, and then he asks “Where did we first meet?”

Connor looks at him with a very scathing look as RK800 answers with “Jimmy’s Bar. We were assigned a homicide case. The victim was Carlos Ortiz.” , and Connor says “He’s uploaded whatever I’ve uploaded from my memory files. He knows what I know.”

Hank gives him an unimpressed look, and says “What was your answer when I asked you if you were afraid to die?”

RK800 falters, and says “Wait when did that happen?”

Connor knows the answer. “My answer was ‘Maybe. I’m not even sure I would even get be a ghost myself.’”

“Wait what do ghosts have to do-” RK800 begins, before a disk flies out of the gun and attaches itself to RK800’s forehead, electrocuting him.

Huh. Turns out the gun was a taser…thing. Who knew.

Daniel sneers and says “Fake-Buddy, you have _no_ idea what ghosts have to do with it.”

Connor blinks, says “That wasn’t a real gun?”

Hank peers at the taser-gun-thing in his hands as says “Yeah, not a gun.”

Connor stares for a minute and says “I’m going to go…do the thing now.” While gesturing to his arm and the androids.

“Uh…yeah you go do that partner.” Hank replies.

Connor chuckles, grabs the android’s arm and shouts “Wake up!”

“You should have slapped them.” Rupert says, staring over his shoulder. “Would’ve been funnier.”

Connor ignores him as the warehouse is filled with voices, all saying “Wake up!”

-LINE BREAK-

“So, do we just get them out or?”

“Hank, you can’t possibly think this is the only floor.”

“I’m not even surprised at this point. Hey, why does this tower have so many floors dedicated to marketing anyway?”

“I…have no idea.”

-LINE BREAK-

Connor marches out of Cyberlife Tower with thousands of freshly deviated androids behind him and yells “Markus, I hope you’re doing a bloody demonstration, or I am going to stab you!”

Markus, who was cornered with several other androids by several soldiers with very big guns, turns to look at him. “What.”

Connor grins and says “I _told_ you I was bringing reinforcements, you asshole.”

Markus keeps staring at him and says “ _What._ ”

Daniel keeps cackling in the background, his laughter unheard by everyone except Connor and the dead, while Henry waves at Caliban, who waves back.

-LINE BREAK-

So, the US army is pretty conflicted about the whole deviancy issue.

On one hand, Markus is the android who has caused a lot of damage to both government and Cyberlife assets, but that was to liberate the rights of his people, so could anyone _really_ blame them if their first instinct was to shoot him? Afterall, he did all of these things rather…violently.

On the other hand, Special Agent Perkins really needs to get this grudge that started three days ago under control, because he looks like he’s about to burst a vein, while radiating a wave of irritation, that sweeps though the humans like a really shitty fan in summer when your air conditioner is broken, but the androids are either immune, oblivious or unaware to Perkins’s waves of irritation, who was now beginning to turn a bright, splotchy purple, almost like Violet Beauregarde, except without him swelling up like a balloon.

And then, there is the android who led a bunch of other androids to the battlefield, who is standing on top of a burning car, yelling at Markus, saying things like “See, they’re fucking _listening_ , so go make a speech, you _asshole._ ”

Markus is yelling back, mostly “I _will_ Connor, so shut up and get off the car, and I’ll _negotiate!”_

Oscar Wilde Smith (because his parents hated him enough, but jokes on them because he’s actually pansexual so suck that _Mother_ ), who is one of the soldiers cornering Markus and his android friends, has lowered his gun in sheer confusion. The others are copying his actions, staring at the two androids.

Markus’s friends are sporting the same looks of confusion. One of them is looking at the soldiers with a _“I don’t know what’s happening but I’d like it to stop.”_

Is this what it feels like to be ignored…?

-LINE BREAK-

In the end, the attack is cancelled and the androids are let out of the recycling centres, and Connor, because he technically played a very big role in the rebellion, gets to stand on stage with the other people who also played big roles in the rebellion.

(Connor tries to decline it, but the PL600 named Simon and a PJ500 named Josh keep insisting that he stand up on stage with them, to the point where Connor just accepts to shut the two of them up.)

(Connor only denies it because all he really did that was mildly interesting throughout the entire ordeal was somehow getting several floors of converted androids out without the guards noticing anything.)

(You’d be surprised how easy it is to sneak past guards that have been tasered, courtesy of a trigger happy Hank and his…taser-gun-thing that they liberated off the unconscious RK800, who was at the time being dragged between two androids, neither of them very apologetic when he “accidently” had his head smacked into random objects.)

Then Connor gets hit by a feeling of vertigo, and his vision clouds with white.

-LINE BREAK-

So, Amanda is angry at him, judging by the severity of the snowstorm in the Zen Garden Software that he reports to, although he’s been kind of neglecting it’s existence in the past months.

However, Connor is going to lodge a formal complaint with Cyberlife about having a two-faced, homicidal _bitch_ locked in his head.

(Who is actively trying to use him to kill Markus. Planned to deviate his _ass.)_

So he stumbles around, trying to find Kamski’s emergency exit, finds the thing, smacks his hand against it, and wakes up to see the taser-gun-thing in his hands, and four ghosts trying to weigh his arm down. Connor tucks the stupid thing away, setting a note to get rid of the thing by prying out it’s batteries and chucking it into the river.

What’s with the RK800 series and not being able to grab an actual gun these days? Why are they all tasers?

-LINE BREAK-

So, Deviants are alive. They have ghosts, like humans, and Connor can see them.

It’s a little…strange, and unnerving, but Connor lives with it, and he likes it. He just doesn’t know why he’s the only model in his series to be able to do this.

He chalks it up to some strange obscure code that he can’t find.

Oh well. It’s not like he’s complaining.

-LINE BREAK-

He knows he should be meeting up with Hank, but instead, he’s at the park where Connor revealed his secrets, with the taser-gun-thing in his hands.

He breaks open the casing, removes the batteries and throws them into a bin, before throwing the thing into the river, watching it as it slowly bobs down the stream.

Connor…is not entirely sure if Cyberlife made it or not, but whatever.

He’s done with the company anyway. He’s still going to file his complaint about Amanda though, she’s a absolute _nightmare_ , even if she is gone.

-LINE BREAK-

He meets Hank in front of a closed Chicken Feed, and they smile at each other before embracing each other, while Hank mutters “You did good. I’m proud of you son.”

Connor hugs a little tighter and says “Mm. Thanks Hank, for believing in me.”

Hank laughs a bit, and says “Let’s go home Connor.”

 Connor laughs, and nods, following Hank to his car, flanked by ghosts. Cole’s chattering happily to Rupert about different bird species, while Ganymede chips in her own thoughts every once in a while. Henry listens as well, but he’s mostly looking around the area, smiling to himself.

Daniel, the first ghost he’s ever met, walks beside him and says “So, it’s over now, huh?”

Connor shakes his head. “I have a feeling this is only the beginning, you know?”

The snow had piled up that day, but sooner or later, it’ll melt away, and it’ll leave room for something else.

Or, something like that, anyway.


	5. EPILOGUE: The end of something, someone, somewhere.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's the epilogue guys!

It’s a relatively calm day in the Spring months of May.

Connor, inducted into the DCPD as an actual detective, arrives to work on time, greets cheerful android sectary with a smile, gives a polite nod to the ghosts that walk around the precinct, and heads to his desk.

As he works through the backlog of paperwork that Hank has managed to build up, he lets his thoughts wander.

(Letting his thoughts wander? That’s new.)

(Well, expected if you were a deviant. But that’s beside the point.)

In November, androids managed to win their own rights.

In the following months, the four leaders of Jericho negotiate with the government on the rights of androids, and achieved what could have been a very elaborate dream.

But androids don’t dream, so what happened was very much real.

A lot of androids were given a choice of where they wanted to work. Where they wanted to stay.

Most androids lived at the newly constructed “Jericho 2.0” (The name is a work in progress). Markus lives with Carl Manfred, his old charge with Carl’s son.

Connor? He lives with Hank Anderson. Mostly because Cole was very good at persuading him, but also because Hank was absolutely furious when he learned that Connor had been living on the streets for the first 5 weeks after the revolution. His…brother? Twin? RK800-60, dubbed Iapetus, goes into Social Services, saying “I don’t want to be anywhere near you.”

Which, Connor had to break to him, very slowly, that the police worked with Social Services.

Iapetus yelled at him for a full hour, called him an idiot, and then moved in.

After a while, things settled down. Daniel forced him to wish him a happy birthday and a happy death-day, which Connor did to shut him up, but that’s really it.

So for a while, life’s okay.

-LINE BREAK-

There’s rumours that Cyberlife released a new investigative android to the Detroit City Police Department.

Connor, who knew at least 2 weeks before hand because he found out from a ghost of one of the androids that was there told another ghost, who told a human ghost, and all the way until they told Henry, who told Connor.

The rumours turn out be true, judging by the shouting match inside Captain Fowler’s office between the Captain and some Cyberlife Representative, while an android stands to the side, looking eerily like Connor and Iapetus if both Connor and Iapetus were several Centimetres taller and looked like they ate hex nuts. He wears the standard android uniform with all the identifiers, despite androids not needing to wear them anymore.

(Connor, with his first pay check, immediately bought a jacket like the one he used to infiltrate Jericho and sneakers.)

(Iapetus, on the other hand, looked him square in the eyes as he bought a pale blue pair of overalls and boots.)

The door slams open, and Fowler walks out, looking constipated. “This is RK900. He’s going to be working here from now on.” He shoves RK900 out the door, mutters “Go make friends.” And shoves the Cyberlife Rep out as well, slams the door shut.

The Cyberlife Rep pats RK900 on the shoulder, says “Go make friends” and leaves.

For one, whole, glorious minute, the police station is completely silent.

Then Gavin Reed, says “So…who’s working with that guy?”

No one replies. Not even the ghosts, who are looking at RK900 likes he’s a particularly interesting insect.

Well, except for Caliban, who is now waving a hand in RK900’s face before sticking his hand into said face and yelling loudly “He cannot see us!”

The ghosts present start yelling “What! We get a new guy and he can’t even see us! That’s _broken_.”

RK900 doesn’t react, and continues to stare at everyone.

Connor, who was beginning to get antsy, stands up, approaches RK900, sticks out a hand and says “Hello, my name is Connor. I hope we can work well together if the need arises.”

RK900 regards him, before saying “You are RK800 #313 248 317 – 51. You failed your mission. I will succeed where you have failed.”

RK900, who Connor has decided is a little bitch, says “That’s…a bit rude, to be honest.”

RK900 tilts his head slightly. “I was being truthful.”

Connor frowns, and says “Still _rude_.”

There’s a beat of silence, before RK900 points at Gavin and says “Who is he?”

Connor looks, and says “That’s Detective Gavin Reed. Bit horrible but still a good person overall.”

RK900 blinks, and then says “Why does he share the same facial features with Eli-” before being cut off by Connor slapping a hand over his mouth and saying “That’s enough out of you.”

He shoves him forward and says “Go make friends little brother.”

Then Connor walks back to his test, yawns, and goes into low power mode on his desk.

He’s had enough excitement for one day.

“Connor. Connor. Oi. Connor. Do you think RK900 believes in ghosts?”

He was wondering when a ghost was going to ask that.

-LINE BREAK-

So, RK900, dubbed “Titan”, because they are running out of moons to name androids after, is not a deviant.

It’s not…a bad thing…but it’s kind of scary when you look left and see him just…staring.

Yeah, scary.

-LINE BREAK-

So, that’s that.

A lot of change has happened. Ghosts come and say their hellos, and then go.

Some give statements to crimes, some just watch, some are victims, some are perpetrators.

But…well…Connor can’t really complain.

 _Today_ , Connor thinks, catching the bus home, listening to the living and the dead having their own conversations, _is quite a nice, calm day._

The sun is out today, and it’ll set. And rise the next morning.

Life and Death. Day and Night. Android and Human.

Things that are opposites, but co-exist in the same space.

It’s a calm, sunny day. Connor stops for a minute, and stands in the sun, and just enjoys it, because he can.

 _My name is Connor_ , he thinks, staring up at the sun, _And I live because I can._

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on Tumblr [here](https://pkmn-trainer44.tumblr.com/) and [here!](https://kayoiwritingarchivies.tumblr.com/)


End file.
